Have many of you even heard of the PSX? It's Sony's step child that no one really cares for. Having been launched in Japan its a PVR/PS2 device with one sporting a 250GB ($863) hard drive, the other a 160GB ($672) unit.

A little birdie sent us an email this morning letting us know that stores in Japan are slashing their prices on the units. Citing unconfirmed third-party reports, a variety of Japanese retail outlets have cut those prices to 52,900 ($480) and 39,800 ($361).

If the cuts have not been sanctioned by Sony - their 50% size suggests these are not manufacturer-led reductions - it will surely come as something of a disappointment for the consumer electronics giant. Launched last year just before Christmas, sales were so far below Sony's forecasts that it was forced to suspend production during the Spring in an attempt to clear out channel inventories. Ouch. Looks like even sony has the occasional failure. Just like the PSP. Whoops did we say that?